Dark Embrace
by Professor Mist
Summary: In the aftermath of the failed Chuunin exams Invasion, the land of sand was left weaker than they were ever before. Someone took advantage of that and massacred anyone with an affiliation to the Suna. Now, there's a power vacuum and the elemental countries are plunged into the next Great Shinobi War.
1. Chapter 1

The invasion at the chuunin exams had more drastic outcomes than the shinobi world was ready for. AU.

* * *

It was the day after the failed invasion of Konoha, and 5 Suna council members were contemplating on how to save their village after losing much of their shinobi force.

"Shit. This is not good…not good at all…" whispered one young, panicking Suna council member.

"Tell me about it," said another, chewing his fingernails in nervousness.

"We need to think of something to placate Konoha, and fast," mentioned the third, unnaturally calm despite the urgency of the situation.

"Don't you think we have more pressing matters than Konoha? Our Kazekage, the only one able to control Gaara, is DEAD. We have to put down that fucking monster before he reaches the village otherwise we're all dead!" snarled the fourth member, unable to control his temper.

"All of you be QUIET! Hiroshi, the pressing matter here is Konoha, not the Jinchuuriki!" hissed the last member.

"What do you recommend?" asked the third member.

"I say we buy time to rebuild our strength. We're too weak right now and we need Konoha's support to deter other countries from making any hostile actions. I say we marry off Temari to a Konoha shinobi as a sign of our good will, and offer them periodic payments to their village for the next ten years."

"That will cripple us! What would we do if famine struck!? How would we survive!?" said the first member.

"Well, do you have any better ideas?!" the last member snarled back.

"As a matter of fact—"

"Yuuta? Yuu—"

All Hiroshi saw was the dark outline of a shinobi saying, "Priority targets Hiroshi, Yuuta, Kenji, Fuuya, and Jiro confirmed dead," before his head fell to the ground in an explosion of gore.

* * *

Kuro was playing with his friends in one of the few parks in Suna when he suddenly noticed all the parents were gone. He looked around curiously before giving up. When he turned around, he saw all his friends were gone. He started to panic before he disappeared as well.

* * *

The next day, we see the sand daimyo eating his lavish dinner. He didn't have a single idea of the Suna-Konoha invasion that just failed. He suddenly noticed that his servants stopped feeding him.

"Peasant, why did you stop feeding me? Do you want to lose another set of fingers?" he asked snobbishly.

When he received no answer, he turned around in his dining chair only to see a shadow slit his throat.

The daimyo could only croak, "How—"before he was killed.

* * *

Two days later, inside the land of fire, near the border to the land of sand, the Suna encampment was sound asleep. They were almost back home after their humiliating defeat to the Konoha shinobi. Morale was at an all time low as they started the trek back home.

Inside the middle of the camp we see Kankuro and Temari sleeping in the same tent as a critically injured Gaara. On the outskirts, we see the few Suna Shinboi who got out of the battle relatively unscathed.

Suddenly the camp was filled the sound of explosions as smoke quickly littered the clearing. The guards on the outskirts were alert right away and moved to engage the enemy but they found they couldn't move. Looking down, they saw their throats slit.

The smoke in the clearing began to clear, showing the entire area bathed in blood with body parts littered. Almost every Suna shinobi was dead. Only Kankuro, Temari and Gaara were left untouched in the middle of what was a massacre, with the former completely mentally scarred at the sight. Gaara was still asleep. They were soon swallowed by the shadows.

"Suna encampment eliminated," One shadow whispered


	2. Chapter 2

"What…the..fuck..!" an old man in his 60's sputtered out. "How is this possible!?"

"I don't know, father, but this looks like the greatest opportunity we could have to gain some leverage over those leaf bastards." The man's child remarked.

"Child, while I would normally agree with you, something like this doesn't _just_ happen in the blink of a week," he muttered uneasily. The old Tsuchikage was currently looking at a report he had received from his scouts that mentioned the complete eradication of the land of sand – shinobi, daimyo, and civilians alike. Not a single person was left spared and the only traces of the hidden village in the sand was a smoldering wreck. Nothing was salvageable.

He was contemplating on whom it could've been that could have pulled this off. To kill every citizen of the land of sand meant they were nothing to take light of. But, as he thought about, he conceded that Suna was admittedly the weakest of the five great hidden villages.

Suna had just attempted to invade Konoha too, meaning that most of their shinobi would've been in the land of fire when this happened. So where had they turned up?

"Did any of the scouts mention any residue of demonic chakra? At the hidden village or the daimyo's city?" he asked, coming to the conclusion that it might have been a jinchuuriki.

"No, all he mentioned was that he couldn't detect any living beings and that most of the corpses were of civilians."

"I see…" This was truly making him uneasy. Where were the corpses of the ninja that should have been defending their country? However, he knew he had a limited number of options to respond in this situation.

He could just stay back, like Iwa had done since their loss from the Third Great Shinobi War, and let one of the smaller countries try to take claim of the land, like bird country or river country. Or, he could take this as an opportunity to increase his country's strength.

'Only an idiot would let an opportunity like this slip through their fingers,' he supposed.

However, he was willing to be that idiot.

"Kitsuchi, tell the scouts to monitor the situation. I want to know what destroyed the land of sand as fast as possible. Oh, and I want you to prep two messenger birds specifically for Han and Roshi. I want them back in the village now!" the Tsuchikage ordered, his voice making his orders absolute.

Kitsuchi wanted to argue but seeing the look in his father's eyes, he relented. "Yes, father," he answered with a sigh.

"It's Tsuchikage-sama to you!" he bellowed.

But as he watched his son retreat further inside the tower to give his orders, he wondered yet again, 'What kind of entity can destroy the entire land of sand in a week?'

* * *

**A week later**

Over the elemental countries, the news began to spread. Word that the entire population of the land of sand had been decimated shortly after their failed invasion of Konoha. Many took this as a sign that anyone who messed with Konoha would get swift retribution. However, the smaller countries, namely river country, bird country, bear country, mountain country, tea country and even the isolationist rain country saw this as a chance to increase their power and wealth. They began to amass their military strength in preparation for a war.

Not to say others like Kusagakure, or Takigakure hadn't noticed – they were preparing as well, just not with the same vigour.

The other villages weren't blind to this, however. Kumo and especially Kiri, which had just gotten out of its civil war, had noticed the increasing movement of the smaller countries.

"Mei-sama, we can't do this!" pleaded Ao, one of the Mizukage's highest ranking shinobi.

"Ao, I can and I will." Mei responded resolutely, her green eyes shining with determination.

"But we just got out of a civil war! You can't afford to take a gamble like this!"

"Ao, shut up or I'll kill you." She responded, leaving her shinobi sputtering at what just happened.

Climbing to the top of the Mizukage Tower, she began a series of hand signs before she released a large amount of mist from her mouth that soon enveloped the village.

The ninja of the village knew what it was though. It was a call to all shinobi from the Mizukage to their leader's tower.

Mei panted a little bit, the chakra needed to envelop the entire village was enormous and she was feeling a little drained. She watched as her ninja slowly began to converge in front of her tower, while Ao joined her side quietly. He finally understood that the decision she had made was final and that nothing was going to stop her. Although it frustrated him a little, that was a part of Mei that showed that she deserved her position as the Godaime Mizukage.

After five minutes, all the mist shinobi lined up in front of the tower, minus those that were out on missions, waiting to hear what the Mizukage had to say.

As Mei looked down at them, she wondered, was it really worth risking all these young lives for what she was going to do? Would it be worth the broken families? Would it be worth breaking the small peace she had just established for her village-no, country?

The only answer she could come up with was 'yes'. Thinking of this as the leader of all these shinobi, she knew that if the Kiri were ever to flourish, she would need to do this. She tried to comfort herself on the fact that most of these ninja's had already gone through a lot with the civil war, and that going back to their normal lives would be almost impossible considering how twisted some of them had become during the war.

Taking a deep breath, she began, "Shinobi of Kiri, soon we shall be going to war once again…!"

* * *

**At the same time**

Inside the land of fire, Konoha was being rebuilt by the citizens of the village. Although the recent invasion had caught them off guard, they had managed to minimize their losses, and were merely left with damaged buildings as opposed to lives lost.

Despite the recent invasion, however, shinobi morale was high. They had managed to drive off two hidden villages in a surprise attack! This was more so evident through a white-haired pervert that was conducting 'research' through a telescope pointed towards the female hot-springs, his face red and giggling at the sight.

This was the sight that Koharu and Homura arrived upon. They both sighed at his acts of perverseness, Koharu more than Homura, before they cleared their throats and got Jiraya's attention.

"Huh? Oh, it's you two. What do you want?" he asked, not really surprised to see them.

"Jiraya, we are going through hard times and we need a strong Hokage to lead the village. We all know here that only a Saanin could replace Sarutobi, especially after a mess like this." Koharu answered, making her intentions clear through her stern voice.

"We also know that I'm the only one who can manage my spy network outside the village. I can't afford to be stuck inside the village doing paperwork." He retorted, serious for once.

"But Jiraya—" Homura began before he was cut off.

"He's right." A fourth voice pitched in.

Walking out of the shadows of another building was Danzo.

"We can't afford to lose his information at a time like this."

"At a time like this?" Koharu questioned.

"Please don't tell me you're that oblivious. With the land of sand effectively destroyed, there's a power vacuum. You can't seriously tell me you haven't noticed our 'neighbors' preparing for war, can you?" he asked mockingly.

"Even so, that doesn't mean Jiraya or Tsunade can't be Hokage." Homura answered, a stern frown on his face.

"But that's the thing, Jiraya or Tsunade have never commanded a war like Hiruzen or I. Their talents are better suited else where – Jiraya with his spies will be able to supply us with much needed information whereas Tsunade can focus her efforts on the injured and wounded that there inevitably will be. You and Koharu may have been through two wars like me, but you have grown soft. Weak. What we need during times like this is a Hokage with experience and the will to do the unthinkable. Otherwise, Konoha may not come out of this war."

"But—"

"I hate to say this, but he's right."

The two twins sent incredulous looks towards the saanin.

Seeing their looks, he responded, "He may not be stronger than me or Tsunade, but Danzo certainly has the right mindset when it comes to war. Tsunade…would probably let her past interfere with her judgment and I… don't have the right mindset to wage war.

Danzo scowled when his strength was mentioned, him being a cripple and all, but brightened a little when he heard Jiraya's accurate assessment.

"I guess that settles it. I shall be Godaime Hokage."

Homura and Koharu only gave each other uneasy looks before nodding.

"Jiraya, I want you to find Tsunade-hime and bring her back to Konoha. If she refuses all attempts at being brought back, do not engage but return to Konoha. Tell her that she will be hunted as a missing-nin if she doesn't return. Koharu, Homura, you may leave."

After the two twins left, Jiraya looked like he wanted to say something.

"I'd like to take a shinobi with me." The pervert requested.

"Hmm? Who?"

"Uzumaki Naruto."

"No."

"Okay, thank—wait what? Why not?" he asked shocked.

"The Kyuubi jinchuuriki needs training and it's not safe for him outside of the village. I'm sure you know why."

"But my presence should be able to deter any attempts, no?" he replied, wriggling his eyebrows in an attempt to convince him.

"Maybe so, but I'm not willing to take the risk."

"Danzo," Jiraya began resolutely, "I need to train the boy. You of all people know his lineage. I have to be the one that trains him and I can't do it while he's inside the village."

"You make a good point, but I'm sure I can train him myself."

"Okay, how about a compromise? I train him for a year in a safe, remote location and then you can have him. I owe his parents." He pleaded in a pathetic tone.

Now that got Danzo's attention. That compromise didn't sound half bad to him – a powerhouse with skills that could potentially surpass the Yondaime, with his ROOT training? That sounded like a god-like shinobi, even before you add the Kyuubi. It would certainly make Konoha a lot stronger in the upcoming war...

"I see. That seems acceptable. You may train him as you wish, but I want young Naruto back in the village in a year."

Jiraya nodded, before he 'poofed' away. When he reappeared in front of the hot-springs, he had a relived look on his face. He'd successfully bought some time for the brat.

* * *

Danzo was still standing on top of the same roof, realization slowly creeping in.

He was now Hokage.

His dream was now a reality.


End file.
